the Crack in the Cosmic Egg:One of those obscure lost privately produced relics from the early-1970's, and not surprisingly so with such an odd name! Ejwuusl Wessahqqan (a character from a sci-fi novel apparently) existed on the Munich scene for several years before they plucked up the courage to release an album.By the mid-1970's however, there was little chance of a major label record contract, so they decided to produce the record themselves, which was a mixed blessing in that they could do whatever music they liked, but it also meant that the recording quality wasn't up to professional standards. The band make a point of the fact that they were friends of Amon Düül II, though really the Ejwuusl Wessahqqan sound relates much closer to Egg (or even more so Arzachel) and Xhol, with their blending of trippy psychedelic space-rock, fusion and classical musics. Elsewhere influences from Embryo can be felt, and because of the raw edge to some of it, there are also hints of industrial music akin to German Oak or early Kraftwerk.Ejwuusl Wessahqqan apparently have a vast archive of tapes, of which two tracks are included as bonus material on the CD reissue. They later became the more symphonic progressive styled band Koala-Bär.

This Irish band toured the States with Jimi Hendrix in 1967 and as a consequence he produced their album and played on it. They were managed by Chas Chandler. After the short-lived venture folded Graham had spells with Clancy and Help Yourself, Tolson joined The Edgar Broughton Band and a later Pretty Things line-up and McCullogh joined The Grease Band and was later in Wings; Chris Stewart was later with Spooky Tooth and Dave Lutton was in Ellis. Eire Apparent's album is now quite collectable - veering towards psychedelia with lots of phasing and effects; it is worth seeking out. Try the Sequel CD reissue.

Fuzz Acid & Flowers:Another of the Boston wave of rock groups, Earth Opera, certainly possessed talent. However, they arrived on the scene a little too late to make a sustained impact.The origins of the group lay in the rich Boston folk scene in the early sixties with the first experiences of Rowan and Grisman. A gifted songwriter, singer and, mandolin and guitar player, Peter Rowan began playing in the early '60s bluegrass and string band music with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys and the Mother Bay State Entertainers. A master of mandolin, David Grisman had similar roots and played with Siegel, Grisman, Rose and Lewinger. Some recordings of these early Rowan and Grisman bands can be found on The String Band Project (Elektra EKS-7292) 1965.Earth Opera was formed at the end of 1967 by Rowan and Grisman and their first album was housed in a strange gatefold sleeve with pictures probably taken inside an Indian temple. All the songs were credited to Rowan (Time And Again being cowritten with Grisman) and the use of vibes, harpsichord or mandocello help creating a gloomy atmosphere on songs like Death By Fire or As It Is Before. The following year The Great American Eagle Tragedy pursued a similar direction. Bill Halverson had left but the four remaining members were helped by various guests, including Velvet Underground's John Cale on viola, Jim Kweskin Jug Band's Bill Keith and Jefferson Airplane's friend Jack Bonus. Once again the sleeve was notable, this time with a collage combining a skull with the American Eagle symbol.Commercially unsuccessful, Earth Opera broke up in 1969. Grisman and Rowan went to California and joined two bluegrass outfits: Muleskinner with Clarence White of the Byrds and Old And In The Way with Jerry Garcia (Grisman also played on The Grateful Dead'sAmerican Beauty).

Here is an excellent example of the US Progressive rock scene of the Seventies: having both technique and excellence, imagination & talent. They seemed to be influenced by a variety of styles. Their sound was a little folky at times, poppy at others, even a little jazzy at times, loosely in the shadow of KANSAS, YES, GENESIS, early KING CRIMSON and others, with lots of vocals everywhere.

The eponymous album was recorded in 1975, "Ardour" the following year, while "Relics" is a compilation of tracks originally destined for the band's third album. The album "Ardour" is excellent. Cool cover too.

Eskaton were one of the most interesting Magma-related groups to appear at the turn of the eighties, referring to their style as "musique post-atomique". Ardeur (1980) was strongly inspired by Magma at the time of Live (1975) and Ьdь Wьdь (1976). Eskaton retained the French language and added monophonic synthesizers to good effect. Engineer Jean-Louis Rizet (best known from his collaboration with Philippe Besombres) might have offered the group a few suggestions. The album was recorded and mixed at Studio Ramses, but apparently failed to impress Polydor and was released in association with Elanore Productions.

Slow and refined progressive rock with twin electric guitars was the trademark of this Basque group. They were a kind of bridge between Gilmour's Pink Floyd sound and electric folk-rock with harmony vocals. Another good compar-ison would be the melodious guitar flights of Andy Latimer in Camel. Bizi-bizian (1978) captured them live on a good evening. Ametsaren Bidea had only four extended tracks and is remarkably good for 1979!

the Crack in the Cosmic Egg:First, let's clear up an error in the original "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" book. Erna Schmidt wasn't a singer that Kraan worked as a backing band for, but a related band that were part of Kraan history.An almost mythological band, Erna Schmidt existed for many years without ever managing to release an album. The roots go back to the Stuttgart area circa 1963 and a band called R&B Corporation, who existed for 6 or so years without ever making an album. Eventually, as the line-up changed and they relocated to Berlin, the music was no longer R & B, so a new fun name was chosen.Erna Schmidt's unreleased/uncompleted studio album (lost in obscurity) is one of many that claims to have been destined for the missing Ohr catalogue number. However, Erna Schmidt only ever became a mysterious footnote in Krautrock history, a shame considering how brilliant they were. The LIVE 69-71 CD (compiled from 20 hours of archive tapes) documents various concerts, of all original (all instrumental) material that steps aside from jazz-rock, to a more vital and loose progressive, typical of the best German fusion of the era. Interestingly, there are flashes of Kraan in their rhythmic and ethnic edges, whilst it's more close to Rufus Zuphall, with the choppy psychedelic trips, that trundle as if on fire, with searing guitars and an overdose of flutes.Over the years many musicians passed through the ranks of Erna Schmidt, amongst them Jürgen Benz (of Missus Beastly), Romi Schickle (of Prof. Wolfff), and because they and Kraan later shared a house together in Wintrup, Kraan's Hellmut Hattler also filled-in for a couple of gigs. But, just as Kraan were starting to become famous, Erna Schmidt began to fall apart and split-up in 1972.

Tapestry of Delights:This South London group is most notable now for the fact it had Eddie Grant as its lead vocalist. It was also an interracial group, which was reasonably rare at the time - they consisted of three West Indians and two British guys. They played a form of very accessible pop/rock (almost bubblegum) and are best remembered for Baby, Come Back, which gave them a UK No 1. Over the next few years they enjoyed other Chart entries - most notably Viva Bobby Joe and Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boy - but in 1971 Eddy Grant left to go solo and their days as a Chart force were over although they continued to record well into the late seventies. Funky Like A Train was an excellent club track.Grant was an in-house producer for President and was responsible for lots of other acts including Little Grants and Eddie.

Cosmic Dreams:Epsilon is a group well-known to most collectors of German progressive rock. They started up in 1969 as a Nice-influenced trio. Ortel had previously played in an early incarnation of Jeronimo. They adopted the name Epsilon in October 1970, when Michael Winzkowski joined.They were able to record their first album in January 1971, for the freshly established Bacillus label. This was an early Peter Hauke production in co-operation with engineer Dieter Clerks in the Dierks Studio, Stommeln. The Epsilon sound was dominated by Ortel's prominent organ work, often adapting themes from classical music, very much in the heavier Emerson Lake & Palmer tradition. Ortel and Winzkowski wrote all the tracks, except for a cover version of "Paint It Black". Indeed, Epsilon were the second German progressive band to record this Rolling Stones composition, as Virus already had included a version of it on their Revelation album! The best moments of Epsilon's debut album were "Two-2-11", the strangely entitled opening piece, and "Every Day's Pain". Other parts of the album were a bit easy-going and too close to conventional pop rock at that time. Winzkowski's vocals were sometimes dangerously close to soul, but not as bad as on the Dull Knife album. In general, a good album, but Murphy Blend would be a better choice for those keen to listen to classical influenced, organ dominated rock.Epsilon's music improved considerably on their second offering Move On (1972). It was another Hauke & Clerks production, adding the guests Curt Cress (drums), Rainer Marz (backing vocals, guitar, ex-Jeronimo), Pete Bender (backing vocals, aka Wyoming) and Christian Felke (flute, ex-Nosferatu). Instrumentally, this album had more guitars. The nine compositions were an improvement on their debut, resulting in Epsilon's best album. At this stage, they could be seen as a German parallel to Traffic, with their soulish vocals, instrumentation of organ, guitars and flute and their slightly jazzy mood - just listen to the tracks "Feelings" and "Move On".

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